Garden City Council approves supplemental appropriation

Garden City Council recently approved a supplemental appropriation of $425,000, increasing revenues and expenditures for engineering and contractor services.

The costs are associated with the SAW grant. SAW stands for Supplemental Appropriation for Stormwater, Asset Management and Wastewater.

Garden City Department of Public Services Director Kevin Roney explained that on Nov. 18, 2013, the city council approved an additional expenditure of $708,198 related to the further study, cleaning and televising of the city's sanitary sewer system.

Also included in this approved work were additional services related to a SAW grant application, smoke testing and development of an asset management plan.

"This project is proceeding, and all of the funds were not spent in the 2013-2014 budget year when council authorized this appropriation," he said.

He advised that an appropriation was needed for the current budget year for the amount of money still to be spent.

"We will make a request for the next budget year through the normal budget process," Roney said.

Ninety percent of the project cost is grant reimbursable.

The condition of community sewer systems is not often talked about but keeping them working property is important.

The Department of Environmental Quality offered this special grant program, which Gov. Rick Snyder initiated for better maintenance. Snyder committed $450 million to a four-year effort. Community sewer authorities were allowed to request up to $2 million each for specific projects.